The Halloween Costumes
by TheYmp
Summary: Happy Halloween! Fresh from a successful hunt, Sam and Dean celebrate by going trick-or-treating. With the exception of the usual angst, gore, and death, what could possibly go wrong?


**Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural or its characters - these were created by Eric Kripke - I'm just borrowing them. I'm not making any commercial gain. No harm or infringement intended.**

**Fresh from a successful hunt, Sam and Dean celebrate by going trick-or-treating. With the exception of the usual angst, gore, and death, what could possibly go wrong?**

~#~

**The Halloween Costumes**

**_"You cannot climb the ladder of success dressed in the costume of failure" - Zig Ziglar_**

As they made their newly-costumed way down the street, Dean congratulated himself on a job well done. Still on a high from a successful hunt, he jostled his brother with his shoulder. Sam returned the gesture with a friendly shove and an even wider grin. _It's good to see him smile after all the stuff we've been through recently_, thought Dean. _Times have been hard, but maybe this is a sign for a turnabout in our fortunes_.

This last job had been a massive risk, but the potential payoff had just been far too good to ignore. After all, it's not every day you get your hands on a couple of monsters whose victims easily numbered in the hundreds. Even better, they'd managed to knock them unconscious, so there would be ample time for interrogation tomorrow and, with luck, maybe they could track down and destroy the rest of their bloodthirsty, underground network.

"Is it really such a good idea to just leave them?" asked Sam, chewing on his lip. As ever, he demonstrated an uncanny ability to know what Dean was thinking.

"Don't worry about it," said Dean, putting on his most nonchalant and big-brother-knows-best, reassuring tone, "they're chained up pretty good. Plus, they both took quite a beating. I reckon they'll be out for the count until at least tomorrow."

Sam still looked unsure. Dean rolled his eyes; it was just like Sam to see the good side of even the vilest beast_. I mean, this is the guy that tried to convince the devil to be good_.

Dean wasn't the type to kick someone when they're down. _Well, okay, maybe a little, but I wouldn't enjoy it... much... but think of all those they've killed_. He took a deep breath and swallowed his rage down deep. Now wasn't the time for that, instead it was for a rare opportunity to just kick back a little. They had never asked for this life, it had just been thrust upon them, so if anyone deserved something nice for a change, it was them.

Dean couldn't remember now who had suggested going trick-or-treating first, but it was just the sort of silly, lighthearted fun they needed. "Why didn't we ever think to do this before?" he asked, astounded at the sheer joy he was having as they made their way from house to house.

Dean paused and stared at his brother when he didn't receive even the usual token grunt of acknowledgement. He sighed as Sam's forehead once more crinkled up into a frown. He could practically see the gears of angst doing their best to overthink the situation.

"What is it?" Dean asked gently.

"Just... watch out for Cas, he'll smite us - you know he won't approve of this."

Dean paused. Given how busy Castiel had been recently, he doubted that they'd come under anything resembling angelic scrutiny for at least a couple more days.

"It's just a bit of fun."

"No, a lot of people think that at best it's a repackaged pagan ceremony and at worst a celebration of all things evil."

"Man, you really swallowed the whole encyclopedia I got you for your tenth birthday, didn't you?"

"Well, don't say I didn't warn you."

"Ptah! Some would say that _we_ were evil given all the things we gank," said Dean, with mock outrage and a cheeky wink.

Sam just pulled the usual bitch face in response.

Dean shrugged. "Anyway I'll take my chances; maybe we could get him to join in?" he pondered, feeling a weird, conflicted churning in his stomach at the thought of the sweet, _nah, funny_, nerdy guy.

He looked up to see that while he been lost in his fantasy, _ahem, thoughts_, that Sam had already knocked and returned empty-handed from the next house.

"No one in," explained Sam.

Dean looked at the dwelling suspiciously. "I reckon they're probably hiding, sitting all scared and alone in the dark!" he joked, pleased to see the twinkle gradually return to his brother's eyes.

"Y'know, this costume _is_ pretty awesome," said Dean, more for something to say to distract his brother, as he absently picked at one of the loose buttons on the jacket. Although, he did wonder if perhaps he should have gone for something more seasonal.

Sam grinned. "You're just jealous because deep down you know that mine's better."

Dean scowled. "Dream on, Hightower."

Sam's grin widened. "Oh my God! I was right wasn't I? You really want what I got."

Dean reddened significantly at the blatant innuendo. "Think what you want, I still think this is an awesome package," he countered, although he squirmed inwardly as there was something about this current get-up that filled him with a surprising amount of buried self-loathing. He took a moment to shake it off as they walked in silence to the next house.

They both shrugged and exchanged an incredulous look at the sight of the poor attempt at a jack-o'-lantern on the porch.

"But maybe we could swap next time?"

Sam paused, considering. "I dunno, it's pretty much a one-time deal, don't you think?"

"Yeah, you're probably right," Dean sighed, as he rang the bell and listened intently to the sound of running feet from behind the door. They were pleased, smiling at each other in pleasure, at the effect their costumes had.

"Fairly slim pickings there," commented Sam, walking back to the car with their haul.

"Yeah, but I think we've done pretty well overall, don't you?" said Dean, rubbing his hands as he looked over all they'd collected.

"Let's call it a night," answered Sam. "I could do with relaxing into something a bit more comfortable and besides, people are less likely to answer the door this late."

"Yeah," sniggered Dean, then added in his best sonorous voiced, James Earl Jones impression, "You never know what horrors await you in the dark!"

Even Sam twitched the corner of his mouth up at that. Only to scream in horror a moment later as a shining, silver blade swung out from the dark and sent Dean's head flying off and away from his body in a plume of crimson blood.

"Take that, you dirt bag," roared their attacker.

Sam barely had a chance to drop his burden and reach for his weapon before the same blade slammed into his chest and ripped straight through his heart. He had just enough time to wonder how their captives from earlier had managed to escape, before the world went dark.

~#~

Sam stared from the two crumpled bodies on the ground to his grinning, blood-spattered brother and shuddered. "Dude, considering they look _exactly_ like us, you took _way_ too much pleasure in killing them."

"Damn shapeshifters," Dean growled, kicking the facsimile of his own head across the gutter until it rolled up against the matching body.

Sam decided that image was probably going to give him nightmares for a long time to come, so he busied himself with releasing the trussed up victims from the back of the shifters' van. They gazed fearfully from Sam and Dean, only to grow more confused at the sight of the bodies of their attackers.

"Evil twins," said Sam, throwing out his arms in an exaggerated shrug and with an apologetic smile. "What can you do?"

Dean rolled his eyes, while dragging the shifters' corpses into the back of their own van.

Sam looked around curiously on hearing his brother call out in triumphant delight.

"It looks like those douchebags had a sweet tooth as well as a taste for human flesh," Dean announced, holding up two large bags brimming with Halloween candy. "Seems like this year we got tricked _and_ treated!"

**_"This is my costume. I'm a homicidal maniac. They look just like everyone else" - Wednesday Addams, 'The Addams Family' (1991)_**

(;,;)


End file.
